Ransom County, North Dakota

Early Norwegian Settlement

The first Norwegian to establish a home in Ransom County was Theodor Pedersen Slatum from Nannestad. He came from Rushford, Minnesota, and settled in the vicinity of Preston in 1878. He was followed by Abraham Dahl and Jørgen Strand from Saltdalen, Nordland; A. R. Berland from Hå, near Egersund; Mikal Thoresen from Nannestad; Nils Miller from Nord-Odal; Peder E. Aas from Tolga; Nils Olsen and Anton Andersen from Mo i Rana; A. A. Prestrud, O. A. Prestrud, Martinus Nilsen, and Helmer Petersen, all from Hedemark; Gilbert Hansen from Lom, Gudbrandsdalen; Casper O. Vig from Trondheim; Peder L. Reitan from Tynset; and S. E. Brandvold from Lille-Elvedalen.

Markets and Transportation

Valley City, far to the north in Barnes County, was the nearest market for the settlers. They had to haul their wheat there by ox team.

A Pioneer’s Reflections

One North Dakota pioneer recalled his childhood years with his parents in Winneshiek County, Iowa. He remembered the shelters dug into hillsides where pioneer families lived during their first years and the willingness of the settlers to help one another. He also remembered seeing mothers carrying their infants in bags on their backs while planting potatoes. The same practice was used during haying season. The pioneer observed that although these memories came from Iowa, conditions in Dakota had been no easier. The nature of the work differed somewhat, but the hardships remained much the same. Looking back, he believed that the older generation had begun to receive the rewards of their sacrifices and that their children would inherit the results of their work. He expressed the hope that the younger generation would understand how to use what had been handed down to them for their own benefit and that of their contemporaries. If they did so, he felt that the often sorrowful, difficult, and dangerous lives of their forefathers in the wilderness would not have been lived in vain.

Churches and Congregations

Fort Ransom Congregation was established in 1881 by Pastor J. D. Bothne of the Norwegian Synod and was the first Norwegian congregation in Ransom County. Standing Rock Congregation was established the following year, in 1882, by Pastor J. Lundeby of the Conference. It built the first Norwegian church in the county in 1889. By 1905, Ransom County had nine Norwegian congregations and eight churches. Four congregations belonged to the United Church, three to Hauge’s Synod, one to the Norwegian Synod, and one to the Lutheran Free Church.

Public Office

Andrew G. Kvello was the first Norwegian to hold public office in Ransom County. He was first elected County Commissioner and shortly afterward, in 1882, County Treasurer. Kvello had been trained as an agricultural teacher in Norway. Andrew Sandager represented Ransom County at the North Dakota Constitutional Convention in 1889. He was therefore among those who helped establish North Dakota as a state and frame its constitution.

Norwegian-American Press

Enderlin Folkeblad, established in 1898, had a large Norwegian readership, although its publisher was Danish.

Sources:

[Ulvestad, Martin. Nordmændene i Amerika. Utg. History Book Company's Forlag. Minneapolis, Minn. 1907.]